Home Preacher or Church in the House,
c. 1870.
Week Twenty-five,
(at end of chapter)
Meditations.
Friday.
Morning.
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded.
Gal. v. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10.
Evening.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, so is the figure of him that was to come.
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Rom. v. 14, 17, 18.
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Good Words for Every Day of the Year,
from
Good Words,
1860.
June 26.
"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons."
— Heb. xii. 7.
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent."
— Rev. iii. 19.
God loves us too well to leave us uncorrected. If even we ourselves can see innumerable evils in our hearts, how many more must He behold whose "eyes are as a flame of fire!" And He is too faithful to permit us to go on unrebuked, unimproved. But the chastening is "not joyous, but grievous;" oh, how grievous! — and we naturally cry out, "Spare us—O Father, anything but this!" Yet if we could calmly consider it, He is never so near us as at such a time, and is even then answering our best prayers in the most effectual manner; for the best prayers are those in which we entreat Him to root out sin, and make His kingdom come within us. Bitter indeed is often this teaching, and the heart is too prone to go to either of the two fatal extremes of despising or of fainting under it; but if we look to Him as our Father through it all, He will make us able to learn His lessons and submit to His discipline, till we find that it is better to be in the valley of weeping with Him, than in the house of mirth with the vain world lavishing all its pleasures upon us.
"Let but my fainting heart be blest,
"With Thy sweet Spirit for its guest
My God, to Thee I leave the rest;
Thy will be done!"
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God's Minute,
1916.
June Twenty-sixth.
"I pray that thy faith fail not."
-- Luke 22:32.
O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. How glorious art Thou in all Thy attributes; how gracious in all Thy acts! Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Accept our worship and adoration and thanksgiving. We make confession of our unworthiness and unfaithfulness, and humbly beseech Thy fatherly forgiveness. We bear before Thee in supplication the needs of a lost world, lying in wickedness. Pour out upon all people Thy Holy Spirit, that His gracious influence may deepen the spiritual life, and change the character of those who are without God and without hope in the world, transforming them into the likeness of the Son of God. Remember this family in Thy infinite mercy, that it may be a household of faith, and that this may be a home in which Thou wilt delight to dwell; and when Thou makest up Thy jewels, gather them all without amissing one, a whole family in heaven, saved by grace. Hear us in this our supplication, and do for us not according to our merit, but according to Thy mercy, exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, to whom be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.